Never the Third Man
by Supernatural on Graph Paper
Summary: Dean's got a month left before they come for him, Gabriel's slowly dying on the inside, Castiel's conflicted over his broken family, and Sam's got a secret that could destroy them all. Just another normal day in a not-at-all normal world. Destiel and Sabriel
1. Catalyst

**Okay, so here's another fanfiction I've decided to upload. I... don't really know what I'm doing with this, it's kind of me delving into the realm of dystopian (which I really like) and combining it with Supernatural (which I also like). **

**Bare with me, for my updates will be sporadic at best.**

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_Dean peered around the stairs to where his parents were in the doorway, exchanging worried looks. There was a small pink bundle in Mary's arms, and she was whispering to John. "This is Jo, as in Ellen's baby, Jo?"_

"_She was the only thing that was in one piece, Mary. Surely we can manage one more?" John rested his hand on his wife's arm, both adults focused on the infant in Mary's arms. Mary pursed her lips. "The Angels did this, didn't they?"_

"_Don't say that, not out here." John glanced out the door, down the empty streets of their neighborhood. He gripped the doorknob and ushered Mary inside, before closing the door behind her. "I don't know who did it, but I do think it had to do with her parents going against orders from Heaven. But that's not important now. Someone has to take care of Jo."_

"… _It would be nice to have a daughter in this house of men…" Mary's voice softens as the baby Jo reaches up and plays with Mary's hair. Dean, still hidden on the stairs, leans forward slightly. He was going to have a sister?_

"_So it's settled?" John says, taking the infant from Mary to put her in a proper bed. Curiosity getting the better of him, Dean walked down the rest of the stairs and pulled at the hem of his mother's nightgown. "Mommy?"_

_Mary looked down at her firstborn. "Dean? What are you doing still up?"_

"_I heard you and Daddy talking… Mommy, why did you say the Angels were why Jo's mom is gone? Are the Angels bad?" Dean fisted the fabric of his mother's nightgown in his hand, green eyes full of innocence and childish wonder. Mary was about to answer, about to tell her son that this "Heaven" was nothing like what heaven was supposed to be like, that the Angels' take-over hadn't improved the post-apocalyptic life. She was about to tell Dean the truth about everything when the bullet embedded itself in the back of her skull. She crumpled next to Dean, her gold hair slowly turning red with blood. Dean gasped and grabbed his mother's shoulder, shaking her, trying to bring her back._

"_Mommy? Mommy?" Dean cried, but nothing he could do would bring back Mary. She was gone._

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Dean sat up in the sleeping bag that he had thrown on the floor the night before, shaking off the nightmare. The memory, actually, as he really had witnessed the murder of his own mother when he was seven.

He was twenty-three now, three months away from a twenty-fourth birthday he'd never get to reach. Hell would have offed him by then, just like they'd offed his father eleven months ago. Dean had begged the Demon to spare his younger siblings once he had seen how brutally his father had been murdered. The Demon had agreed with Dean's plea, but had only given him a year with his family before they came.

They only wanted him for a year. Once the year was up, there was no reason to keep Dean alive. The eldest Winchester looked over to the bed where Sam and Adam were curled away from each other, and to the other bed, which Jo had claimed for herself the second they had entered the motel the previous night. She didn't always get her own bed; she, Sam, Adam, and Dean had grown up on the road together, so sharing beds had never been weird, even though Jo was the only girl and she wasn't technically related to the boys.

Dean's cellphone buzzed from beside him. Dean picked it up, and recognizing the number as one of Lilith's, answered it immediately. "Dean Winchester."

"Morning sweetie." The woman on the other end crooned. "I have something for you to do for me, so if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to meet you at this little café, Just Desserts, in fifteen minutes. We can talk over coffee."

"Yes, ma'am." Dean said, and Lilith hung up. Lilith was the Demon Dean had made his deal with; Lilith was the one that Dean reported to whenever she wanted him to do something for her.

Dean crawled out of the sleeping bad and stretched before putting on shoes and his jacket and scribbling a quick note for Jo, Sam, and Adam:

'_Gone to get breakfast. Don't worry, be back soon. –Dean'_

The eldest Winchester left the motel silently, walking out to the Impala, his baby, and driving the ten minutes it took to get to the café titled Just Desserts. The lights were on inside, casting a faint glow on the street. Dean recognized Lilith's sleek white Mercedes, and wasn't surprised. Lilith always made sure to arrive before Dean did.

A bell clinked as Dean came through the door, and the few occupants glanced up before returning to their morning routines. Dean's hazel eyes flashed across the small room, spotting Lilith in a corner with a coy smile on her face. Dean walked over and sat down on the stool across from his boss. "I'm here."

"Yes, you are." Lilith flipped her perfect blonde hair over her shoulder, out of her face, one manicured hand curled around the coffee mug. "But, there's no rush. Have some coffee, buy a few treats to take back to your family. They're quite delectable."

"The chick has a point." A man with slicked-back gold hair leaned on their table. Lilith narrowed her eyes, but said nothing to the man. Dean raised an eyebrow at the newcomer. "Who're you?"

"Name's Gabriel. I own this place." The man flashes a grin at Dean. "But seriously, you kinda have to order something, otherwise I'll have to kick you out. No loitering, you know? But don't make it come to that. I don't want to lose potential customers."

"Do you have pie?" Dean wasn't sure why he had asked; he hadn't had pie in forever, but he wasn't one to treat himself to things like pie for no reason. But, Gabriel nodded. "Sure, what flavour?"

"Apple." And the gold-haired man was gone again, leaving Lilith to inform her hit-man of his next target. She took a sip of her drink, licked her lips, and pulled out a battered manila folder. "His name is Raphael Collins, and before you ask, yes, he is one of the Collins in Heaven. Michael's favourite brother, to be exact."

"What did I do to get a job like this?" Dean pocketed the folder, deciding to look at it in detail later. He had never been assigned the task of taking out someone with such a high rank in Heaven, and he was curious as to the motive behind it.

Lilith just smiled and plucked a clump of mascara from her eyelashes. "Well, seeing as you'll be gone in a month, I thought it would be best to at least let you go out with a bang."

"How… considerate." Dean didn't really think that Lilith was being considerate, she never was. She just cared about herself and securing a position as Lucifer's favourite bitch in Hell.

Lilith looked as though she was going to snap back with a reply, but Gabriel decided that then was the right moment to appear with Dean's pie, and slid the plate in front of Dean. Gabriel smirked at the two. "I feel like I've interrupted something between the two of you…"

"You haven't." Dean shook his head and picked up his fork. Gabriel nodded, the smirk on his face growing ever-so-slightly. "So, what _are_ you two, anyway?"

"I'm his boss, and we're having a business meeting." Lilith's upper lip curls back in the beginnings of a snarl. She was not a big fan of the gold-haired man interrupting her. "So if you don't mind, I suggest that you leave us alone. Now."

"Of course." Gabriel winked. "Enjoy your pie."

Once the café's owner had left them alone to go pester some other customer, Lilith rolled her eyes and flipped her hair over her shoulder again. She narrowed her eyes menacingly. "We're done here, Winchester."

She took her coffee, mug and all, and left without paying. Dean was used to his boss doing things like this, but it still pissed him off. Even though she was a Demon, it didn't mean she always had to _act _like a Demon. She could at least try to act like a regular human, but no, Lilith treated everyone like they were scum, beneath her level.

_She's not that different from the Angels, not really._ Dean thought. He finished his pie and set down enough money on the table to pay for both the pie and coffee before getting up and walking over to the counter to get some treats for his siblings back at the motel. He got up to the register, paid, and left, jay-walking back over to where he had parked the Impala. Dean slid the to-go bag across the seat and pulled out the manila folder, opening the clip and pulling out the papers on Raphael Collins.

_He's in Heaven. That's good, Heaven's near here, and I don't want to have to move again, especially since we just got here._ Dean thought as her rifled through the papers, his mind formulating a plan. He had a month to do this. He had a month to kill Raphael Collins. If he succeeded, he'd still be killed, but Sam, Adam, and Jo would get to walk free. If he failed, and Raphael Collins was still alive when his time was up, Hell would come after his siblings and make one of them finish the job. Dean couldn't let that happen. Heaven and Hell had destroyed enough of their families already.

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The three Winchester boys and Jo were sitting on the floor of the motel room, breakfast finished, and planning out the day. So far no major ideas had been thrown out; the town they were in was not very interesting even though it was Hell's nest, and only a few miles away from the Celestial City (also known as Heaven) where the Angels resided.

"Dean, you've been oddly quiet. What do you think?" Adam said, shoving Sam's feet off of his legs. Dean shrugged. "Whatever you guys want will work for me. I personally think this place is kind of dead."

"Everywhere is dead." Sam put his feet back on Adam, just to bother his younger brother. Adam shoved his brother's feet off again, before pulling his legs up to his chest and sticking his tongue out.

"You two are mature." Jo rolls her eyes, smiling. "But… not everywhere is as dead as here. Celestial City's not that far from here, and I'm pretty sure that it's interesting."

"You're suggesting we go to Heaven?" Sam raised an eyebrow at Jo, who nodded. "Why not? Dean could drive us, right Dean?"

"… Right." Dean didn't want to take them to Heaven. Not that they wouldn't enjoy it, but people that weren't Angels, especially people with a history with Demons (like Dean, not that his siblings knew it), were not welcomed. The death of the Collins's patriarch five years ago had only made the Angels more hostile, and the fact that Dean's father had been the one to kill Chuck Collins (or so everyone suspected, no one was sure and John was dead so he couldn't say otherwise) made the Winchesters even less welcome.

But Sam was already nodding, and Adam and Jo were already standing up, looking at Dean expectantly, and so Dean gave in. He'd take them to Heaven, but he'd make sure none of his sibling got out of his sight. He knew he couldn't protect them from everything, but he would do his best to keep them safe from both the Demons of Hell and the Angels of Heaven.

"Let's go to Heaven. You guy's will enjoy it, I promise." Dean put on a fake smile and led Sam, Adam, and Jo out of the motel.

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**Alright, first chapter complete! Anyway, nest chapter is Gabriel's POV, as this is going to be both Destiel and Sabriel.**

**Please review, because reviews make my day!**

**-Tammy**


	2. Broken

**Okay, hey, I've finally gotten around to uploading new chapters. Sorry for taking too long, and thank you to RayenOfDeadStarsAndPlanets for your review! Very much appreciated!**

**So, here's chapter two, re-edited and ready to be posted. Please read and review!**

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_Gabriel was seventeen when his father died. That fateful day in February changed everything he knew. He had been in his room, listening to music at full volume, when there had been a knock on his door. It was Zachariah, one of the men that worked for his father and Michael. Gabriel sat up and shut off the music. "Hello?"_

"_Your mother wishes to speak with you." Zachariah's voice had been flat, which meant, in Gabriel's seventeen years of experience, that something shitty had hit the figurative fan. Gabriel feared the worst: his mother had found out about one of his pranks, probably the most recent one involving Michael's shoes and shaving cream, and was planning to kill him for it. Gabriel had known it was only a matter of time before his mother snapped and murdered one of her own children. Gabriel had just hoped that it would have been someone other than him._

_However, Gabriel also knew better than to try to avoid his fate, and so he had gotten up and followed Zachariah to Gabriel's father's office. Gabriel feared for what was behind the door. Zachariah opened it for the blond teen, who slid in. The large oak door slammed shut behind him with a resounding thud. Gabriel swallowed and assessed his surroundings. His four brothers were in the office as well, and their mother was in the center of it all, sitting with her thin hands folded in the lap of her white dress. She smiled up at Gabriel. "Hello, Gabriel."_

"_Mother, we're all here now. What happened to Father?" Michael spoke up and directed Eve's attention away from Gabriel. Eve scratched her knee with a fingernail. "Your father was murdered tonight, along with the head of the Demons, Azazel."_

"_What?!" Michael's face was contorted with rage. On the other side of the room, leaned casually against the wall as though he didn't have a care in the world, Lucifer, Michael's twin, had a small smirk on his face. "So… that means Hell has no leader at the moment, right?"_

"_How could you think of your stupid fantasy of taking down Hell now, when our father is dead?" Michael whipped around to face his brother, who only shrugged. Michael looked back at his mother. "Who did he leave in his place?"_

"_No one. There is no will in your father's name." Eve's eerie smile grew. "But, I would suppose… since you and Lucifer are the oldest, it would make sense for one of you two to become the new head of Heaven."_

_That's when Gabriel got it. That's when Gabriel realised what his mother was doing, but he had no idea why she was doing it. He realised then that she wanted to tear the family apart and to have her sons fighting each other more than they already were. Gabriel wanted no part of that. He'd seen what his eldest brothers could do when they were on the same side; he didn't want to hang around in Heaven for when they were divided further. Gabriel was done._

_He turned to leave, but Eve called him out. "Gabriel, where are you going?"_

_Gabriel could hear the maniac smile in her voice, but he didn't turn around. He just held onto the door knob and answered with as straight of a voice as he could manage. "I'm done. I'm not a part of this place, or this family, anymore. Screw you all."_

It had been five years since Gabriel had left his family, and five years since Lucifer had metaphorically fallen from Heaven and taken control of the once chaotic Hell, calling himself the Demon's leader. It had been five years since Castiel had spoken to any of his family save for a few stray calls from his younger brother, and he didn't mind it at all. Sure, he was alone a lot of the time, but he had his café, and he had the night. Being currently situated in the same town as Hell's capital meant that there were more clubs and bars than anything else. Finding a place to get wasted and forget that your brothers were waging war on each other was no challenge.

Gabriel had created two constants in his life: laughter and candy. Crashing parties, making parties, making chocolate, whatever. Gabriel surrounded himself with things that made him forget about his normally sucky life. Usually, it worked with ease, but having Lilith, one of Lucifer's favourite bitches, come in and set up something with some random guy that, as far as Gabriel could tell, was neither an Angel nor Demon, really pissed Gabriel off. This was not his ideal Monday morning.

Once Lilith and her pretty boy thing were gone, Gabriel spent the rest of the morning running around, interacting with the morning coffee-addicts more than usual. One of the things the apocalypse hadn't messed with was people's need for caffeine. Or perhaps it was Heaven's fault for putting so much pressure on what was left of the world to try and make the world what it had been before the end.

By ten in the morning, all of Gabriel's morning customers were gone and the café was relatively empty. So Gabriel went into the back room to start working on more sweets. Except for the three teens that cleaned the place, and Gabriel's only real friend, an independent red-haired woman named Anna, who worked the register, the building was empty. Gabriel was okay with that. After Lilith, he kind of needed a bit of time to himself.

"Gabriel! Phone's for you!" Anna called from the front of the store. Gabriel rolled his eyes; why was it that people always managed to choose the least accommodating time to bother Gabriel. He walked out of the kitchen, hitting the door closed with his hip, and stuck his hand out for the phone. Anna tossed it to him. "Whoever he is, he sounds like he just swallowed a mouthful of gravel or something. Hope you didn't piss him off too much."

"I didn't." Gabriel knew only one person with a voice that gravelly: his younger brother, Castiel, who still called him on occasion, even after five years of Gabriel giving him the cold shoulder. Gabriel put the phone to his ear. "Hey, bro."

"Hello, Gabriel." Gabriel didn't want to talk to Castiel at the moment. Sure, Castiel wasn't a dick like the others (and Gabriel included himself in his family's reigning dickdom) but he was too damn naïve about it all. He had this childish idea that he could fix everything between Michael and Lucifer. _No_ _one_ could fix _anything_ between those two. They were practically at war with each other, using petty Demon and Angel fights as bait. If one of them pushed too far, it would be apocalypse 2.0, and Gabriel didn't want to be around to witness _that_.

Gabriel ran his hand through his hair. "Cas. Hi… look, this is a really crappy time… I'm kind of being over-flowed with customers at the moment…"

Anna raised an eyebrow, but Gabriel waved her off. Gabriel had lied his way out of numerous family matters, before and after he left them. Castiel was the easiest to fool.

"This is of great importance, Gabriel." There was an angry growl of impatience in Castiel's voice, and Gabriel wondered for a moment if he _had_ pissed of Castiel, somehow. Gabriel decided that it would be best to just let Castiel go for it, and so he leaned against the wall and said, "alright, Castiel. Go. Tell me what's so important."

"I'm coming to visit you at the end of the month, because I need to see Lucifer."

"If you're going to talk to him, then why don't you just stay with him?" Gabriel said, making sure not to mention his older brother by name. Anna was just a kid living in Hell, she probably didn't know Castiel's name. She did, however, know Lucifer's name, everyone did, and Gabriel didn't want to have to answer any questions about the leader of Hell.

Gabriel knew why Castiel was planning to stay with him instead of Lucifer. When Gabriel had left and Raphael and Castiel had chosen to stay in Heaven with Michael, Lucifer had made it very clear to all of his brothers that their presence would not be tolerated around any Demons. It was why Gabriel kept his real name to himself and Anna, because she had earned his trust over the five years they'd been working together.

"Because… because I haven't seen either you or Lucifer since our father died, and I wish to change that. I don't want our family to get ripped apart." If Gabriel had a heart and Castiel was in the room instead of over a phone, Gabriel would have hugged his baby brother. Their family was already torn apart, and it wasn't stopping any time soon. Not that Gabriel was doing anything to fix it.

_I'm not doing anything to make it worse, though._ Gabriel reminded himself, looking down at his feet and ignoring the looks Anna was giving him. He'd deal with those later.

"Gabriel? Are you still on the phone?" Castiel asked. He sounded concerned.

"Yeah. I'm still here… just… spaced out. Or something." Gabriel tried to keep his voice as animated as it usually was, but he felt drained. Acting was not for him, apparently. "And, to answer question number one, you can come down. I've got a spare mattress somewhere… I'm guessing you already know where I am?"

"Yes. Thank you Gabriel." Castiel said. "I'm going to hang up now."

"You do that." Gabriel didn't wait for the click before he hung up on his own brother. The golden-haired man leaned his head back on the wall, wincing ever so slightly as it banged against the concrete surface. Gabriel resisted the urge to hurl the phone back at Anna. It wasn't her fault that Lilith had made a deal here or that Gabriel was about to have an unplanned family reunion. He gave her a half-assed smile. "I hate Mondays. Mondays, plus any other day some Demon struts in here like she owns the damn place. _I_ own the damn place."

"Some people just walked in…" Anna glanced over her shoulder, her long hair falling into her face. She spun back to Gabriel. "You planning on sticking around, or…?"

"Or." Gabriel waved his hand and went back through the kitchen to the back of the building, where a stairwell led up to the apartment above that he lived in. Because he wasn't in the mood to deal with people (when was he ever? The recent events had only made it impossible for him to hold up his façade), he went upstairs. After minutes, hours, some time, of wandering around trying to straighten something out, knowing that it would go back to its usual order of mess before Castiel arrived anyway, Gabriel gave in and decided to get a shower.

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**Thank you for bothering to read this. I know it's not my most popular story but I promise it gets better. Please leave a review anyway, and I promise to update soon!**

**-Tammy**


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